Keeping files safe in Google Drive is super important. That's why Drive uses Google’s highly-secure, custom-built data centers to store your photos, videos, and other documents. But it’s not just fences, cameras, and lasers that keep things safe — it’s people. It's the software engineers and 500+ security experts at Google, along with a network of independent researchers, who live and breathe data security.

Our research grant program is one way independent security researchers contribute to Google’s data security. We're grateful for their efforts to keep Google Drive safe, so next year we’re dedicating $1,000,000 to fund even more grants for independent security research. Separately, we’ll continue to offer up to $20,000 to anyone who finds and reports a qualifying issue. The end result of these ongoing efforts is a product that — unlike your garden-variety hard drive — actually gets better over time.

This holiday season, many of you will be buying or gifting new computers, phones, and tablets — and possibly dealing with moving important files from old devices to new ones. Google Drive for Mac, PC, Android, and iOS devices can help you easily move your files and keep them all safe going forward.

When you store important files in Google Drive they’re not only safe, they’re accessible from any device. And finding them again from any device should be super easy so we’re rolling out a new search experience to get you better results — even faster.Drive lets you search across all your files, regardless of the device they came from. To make that easier, you can use these new ways to find your files:

Narrow your search to a file type from the search box on Android, iOS, and the web.

Open advanced search instantly from the search box.

Access recent files or search Drive from the home screen using 3D Touch on iOS.

Search Drive using the iOS search bar without opening the Drive app.

Several behind-the-scenes improvements give your search queries even better results than they did before. And to get more specific results, anyone can now do the following:

Search for shared files by file owner using their name or email address.

Use advanced search options like the date a file was modified, words it contains, or who it was shared with.

This is all part of an ongoing effort to make Drive the easiest place to find your files. Look for these features as they roll out in the coming weeks.Posted by Steen Andersson, Group Product Manager, Google Drive